Many bills, little debate

The five days of House “debate” this year on local bills to block the voter I.D. legislation brought more attention to the uncontested calendar than it’s had any time in recent memory.

Usually the only time the uncontested calendar gets mentioned in the news media is when someone does a story on the presiding officer ramming through bills like an auctioneer.

But it truth, it is where the legislative action is. To prove the point, I looked up on the House bill search all the regular session results from Rick Perry’s tenure as governor and lieutenant governor. Perry has until Sunday to sign bills into law, let them become law without his signature or veto them.

I’m not sure what it says, but the total number of bills passed by the legislature dropped after the Republicans took control in 2003. While the number of bills passed without debate dropped dramatically after the Republicans took control, it has been rising steadily ever since.